Pepe the King Prawn

Pepe the King Prawn, whose full name is Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales, started life in Madrid, Spain. He worked as a chef, before moving to Hollywood and following his true calling in show business. In a TVGuide.com chat in 1999, he remarked, "There were one too many close calls in the kitchen. I was mistaken for an appetizer, okay."

The four-armed Pepe is very proud of being a king prawn, and takes great offense if anyone refers to him as a shrimp ("I am not a shrimp! I am a king prawn, okay?"). He speaks with a heavy Spanish accent, often punctuating his sentences with "...okay?" Puppeteer Bill Barretta, who created the character, based the accent on his wife's aunt, who is known in the family as "Maria Teresa Okay".[1] Due to his sometimes impenetrable accent, Pepe calls the Muppets "Muffins" or "Muppens", and he regularly calls Kermit "Kermin", Fozzie Bear "Fotzie", and Rizzo "Ritzo". He also referred to Scooter as "Scooper" in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz and promos for Muppets Most Wanted. He doesn't even pronouce Walter correctly, and instead calls him "Howard." He also calls Sam the Eagle "Stan" as shown at the 2009 D23 Expo.

Pepe is in love with Hollywood, and expects he will earn several Oscar nominations (for good looks, acting and choreography. And foley.). His influences include Dick van Dyke, Marlon Brando, Ruth Buzzi, Topo Gigio, and Mighty Mouse.[citation needed] He has also referred to Ricky Martin on at least two separate occasions. In his TVGuide.com chat, he challenged the pop star to a sing-off, and in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, he was invited to shake his "bon bons" at Ricky Martin's South Beach Christmas party.

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Muppets Tonight

Pepe in his elevator operator outfit during his Muppets Tonight days.

Pepe's first appearance was on Muppets Tonight in 1996, as a companion to Seymour the Elephant. The pair worked at the KMUP studios, as elevator operators in the first season and as commissary chefs in the second season, but they always aspired to onscreen singing stardom. These dreams never came true, however, because their performances were dire. They would always sing the same song, with slightly altered lyrics:

I'm Seymour...'I'm Pepe...'We're two of a kind.'I'm a little bit forward,'And I've got a big behind.

The pair only appeared on stage twice -- in the Pierce Brosnan episode, when they were taken hostage by an army of lobsters in a bid to take over the studio, and in the Sandra Bullock episode, when Clifford and Rizzo were desperate for an act to keep the show's ratings above 50.

When Muppets Tonight went off the air, Pepe ditched his partner; Seymour has never appeared again.

At MuppetFest, Bill Barretta explained that originally, Pepe was going to be a mouse, but "We decided an elephant and a mouse was too easy."

Pepe goes solo

Pepe as seen in Statler & Waldorf: From the Balcony

Pepe as seen in a video from Disney.com

Pepe sports a sweater on America's Funniest Home Videos.

Pepe as seen in The Muppets.

Pepe established himself as a "solo act" in the 1999 film Muppets from Space, in which he connives with Rizzo to convince Gonzo that the aliens want him to build a jacuzzi.

In 2002, he became the official spokesprawn for Long John Silver's, starring in several commercials and appearing on their website. These commercials brought Pepe nationwide attention, and Long John Silver's was deluged with e-mails asking for Pepe merchandise, especially plush dolls. [2]

In a 2008 interview, Pepe announced that he is a father; sharing that he and his long-time girlfriend, Christine, have a 2-year-old baby.[3] In a later television appearance on CBS's The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Pepe revealed that he and Christina have since become engaged; and stated that he has a total of about 1,300 children all over the world. When asked what he looks for in a fiancé, Pepe responded "breasts."(YouTube)

In a 2012 Ask Pepe video, Pepe said he usually likes to make the first move with a woman, but with co-star Amy Adams, it was hard for her not to make the first move on him.